Raise a paper sword, See what it wants to defend, Oh what will it do? It is flimsy, frail It can only do so much, Can it be so sharp? What will it cut, slice? This or that, what can it do? A plain paper cut… Or a great sever? So lay down the paper…

A deep and gentle groan that could easily be mistaken for a deep sea horror to the unfamiliar ear pushed its way through the dense silence. A haunting behemoth of shredded metal and mindless gray sea fauna began to emerge from the shroud of blue ahead of me. A hefty steel ship and her inhabitants…

I drove down over the bridge and brook that leads between the groves. That bridge has been there since my father ran the business and hasn’t required repair once. I’ve gone down this road enough times since who knows when I can no longer tell if all the bumps along the road have been evened…

You arrived at the apartment early and knocked on the door. The people who called you ‘friend’ welcomed you in. You sat at the counter and immediately asked to be given a hit. She complied and although suspicion flooded your system, you remained calm, smiling, talking. You keep the Pen in your hand. Another comes…

A dragon came down from the sky. It was a large dragon, much larger than the average five foot man of the town. The dragon was cruel, the dragon was cunning, and the dragon was crimson-red colored. The dragon was the daughter of one that lived in the town, and the people had incapacitated its…

The morning was still new. Gwyn and I were both still damp from showers taken before meeting up at my house. We both lived down the street from one another, so it became our summer routine to go to each other’s house after practice. First, we would usually get up around 6 am or some…

When my mother’s father, Grandpa Vigil, passed away, my grandma moved in with our family and lived with us for many years. As I consider that time now, it was simply something our family did. There was no question where grandma would go next; she would come to live with us. At the time, I…

Death used to call me on the phone. Under the fluorescent lighting of the insurance call center, my phone would ring with the news of whom Death had recently claimed. Death has always been a shapeshifter so the voice on the other end of the phone was constantly changing. Sometimes it was the grieving husband…

I find it easiest to describe my chronic illness in metaphors. When asked how it feels to hold a chronic illness within my body, I perform a magic trick of words. With my words, the lights dim, the smoke machine whirls to life, and I become the wizard hiding behind the velvet curtain. Pay no…

Pennies drowning at feet of white carnation. Wishing well overflowing, dispelling words left unspoken. Transform superstitious frustration.  Hopeful beings, unjust demonstration of vision once desired, they are now forsaken. Pennies drowning, at feet of white carnation.  Corroded. Atrocities do lay out in procession. Of what fate can a cent be mistaken? Transform superstitious frustration.  Not…

It looks on me.                For looking through my dense, blue eyes                                to think and see something could be perfect.               And it disappoints me, when vision collides,…

I found a spider on my stoop! It’s time to make some spider soup!                                               Sous vide? Air fry?                                                                                                …

The hallway-clock’s ticking and the pendulum’s sticking & the ravens are barring the door with their sharp claws they’re tapping – one might call it rapping – but maven of Morse I can’t claim My only true aim – though I know it for vain – to escape someplace safe ere night’s fall, for the…

I WOULD HAVE LOVED YOU FOREVER & NEVER CALLED YOU CRAZY  I WOULD HAVE PULLED YOU FROM THE RIVER BEFORE IT STOLE ROSE-PINK FROM CHEEKS & TINGED YOUR TEETH A BRACKISH BLUE  IF I HAD BEEN THERE YOU WOULD HAVE MADE IT OUT ALIVE  I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT YOU DAISIES EVERY DAY & HELD YOUR…

OPHELIA OPINES ON THE SEEDS YOU CAN BUY FROM HER SPOT IN THE GREENHOUSE LOT SHE STRAIGHTENS HER SUN HAT WITH HAND HYPOTHERMIC & DEADHEADS THE PANSIES IN PASSING  COUNT DRACULA’S OUT ON THE CURB THE ONE OUTSIDE THE SINCLAIR HE’S SMOKING A SHREDDED-UP CIGARETTE & KEEPING HIS CAPE FROM THE DUST  JEANNE D’ARC AIMS…

Content Warning: Sexual Assault  Emotions, Love, happiness, attraction, lust, violence. You say your affection is a seed needing to be planted so it may grow. Feelings festering needing to be freed, Released. But I am a tree in and of my own Planted and rooted in place Planting your seed uprooted me, cracked the ground…

the past it can cut like glass why can’t i let go? look at the beauty of a stained glass window it’s so intriguing, how could you look away? so i hold on and keep the pain another day few things last forever, so to love fearlessly is quite the endeavor to be fearless is…

I chase through waves trying to catch what has already been swept away and dragged back into something I can never hold. I strangle the warm hugs around me trying to ask it a question, and I unravel the sweater I wore when I was hurt to find what yarn it was made of. I…

I don’t know anything like the back of my hand, even the back of my hand. These veins are not arterial streets I follow home. They are not rivers leading me to the pounding sea The center of my body is where all maps end. I’ve tried to memorize my topography. I’ve tried to trace…

THE RED MOON WANED & THE TALLOW-WAX DRIPPED & THE BLACK DOG PACED ON THE SHORE THE NIGHT ANOUSHKA WENT DOWN TO THE CRYPT THE BLACK WATER BOILED, THE BOAT’S STARBOARD DIPPED, & THE DEAD WRUNG THEIR HANDS AT THE OARS THE RED MOON WANED & THE TALLOW-WAX DRIPPED THE FATES IN THE FOREGROUND, WITH…

Kept around the corner is a monster of its own making It keeps a bottle, a can, a drink in its reach Never missing a drop, stumbling for another Cries are all it has, weeping, angry, joyous tears And yet there’s a pity to be had Adapt to the times of when it’s aching It…

They left the warring island, To thrive beyond the sea. Departure was a gamble, An urgent need to flee.  Hands entwined with bands adorned, New forged vows still gleaming, Their love will long endure.  Lightning strikes, like gods, strode o’er the towering seas. Poseidon’s swirling winds and waves crashed even on the lee. All aboard…

Why is the water So cold on my back When it steams? Why is the light So cold on my face When it gleams? I am a sack of damp pebbles They churn in hand Why do they scrape as they scream? I am shadow to warmth I am chilled to light I am Oxbow…

It was 6 AM when Chloe Heard stepped into the Village Inn, her breath visible in the chilly morning air as she unlocked the door. The street outside was still wrapped in a blanket of quiet, with only the distant hum of early risers stirring. The Village Inn was a cozy little spot with checkered…

Nikolai’s at the worst bar in the Apollyon system when he gets the call. He’s holding a glass of something dark, staring at the neon sign hung over the busted-up jukebox – don’t leave thirsty! in blood-red letters. It’s dead quiet and nearly empty. A few long-haul freighters up at the bar, heads bowed low…